Hi,

I'm building the mirror kit of the C15TA and i would like to know the best canadian colour in tamiya or gunze for this vehicule?

Many thanks for your help

The vehicles would have been painted the same as other AFV's of the time, which would be the British version of the American Olive Drab. I normal use Model Master Olive Drab, but Tamiya I beleive the closest would be Khaki Drab.

Tamiya's XF-62 Olive Drab is about the best color in their line for US WWII OD and British/Commonwealth SCC No. 15 OD.

I like to lighten it with Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow for "scale effect" as the XF-62 right out of the bottle is very dark. I think it's a good match for the prototype color but too dark for scale models. How much to lighten (or even if to lighten) the dark OD is a matter of personal opinion.

According to the Capricorn Pub. AW09 book, "GM C15TA Armoured Truck," the C15TA didn't enter production until 1944. However, no specific month for the start of production is given. The book does imply that it was in the beginning of the year, though (by stating that the vehicle was designed in 1943).

Dick Taylor says in volume 2 of his "Warpaint" series that, "In the spring of 1944, possibly as early as January, the British began to procure stocks of paint... known officially as SCC No 15 Olive Drab" (p.86).

Taylor further lists in Annex A, Table 1, vol. 2 that in "NW Europe" SCC15 became official in April 1944 and in August 1944 "no disruptive patterns" were authorized. In the same table, he lists for the "Mediterranean" theater that both of these standards were official "Jan-Apr 44 Italy - as for NWE" (p.95).

So the likeliest color for the C15TA was SCC No 15 OD. Some few units might have use used a disruptive pattern on top of this, but there were, at that time, no official patterns. These colors could have been anything the unit wanted to use, so you'd have to rely on war-time photographs to document and make the case for a cammo pattern painted C15TA.

But, having said all of that, at the beginning of 1944 the official factory base color for vehicles was SCC No 2 Brown.

So, I guess it's possible that some of the very earliest C15TA's produced were finished in SCC No 2 (but since I don't know the month that C15TA production started, it's hard to say how likely this was).

The SCC No 15 ambulance shown in the color and markings part of the Mirror kit's instructions is, I think, in the most likely color for all C15TA's.

The two SCC No 2 Brown trucks are just possible given what little is know about the time lines of production and official color change, and the camouflaged truck "Aristocrat" is, IMO, pretty unlikely.

The Capricorn book has four photos of "Aristocrat" on page 6, and in my opinion, what is interpreted as disruptive camouflage SCC No 1a is most likely mud and rain water. But that's just my opinion.

I've been doing the research for my own C15TA build, and this is what I've come up with so far.

HTH,

Thanks for the info Mike. Very useful. Im currently waiting for the update set which is due any day now, and then I hope to get the C15TA started. Have (hopefuly) 2 weeks holidays coming up at Christmas, and a new camera coming from Santa!!

Suh-weet, Frank!

I'm waiting for the up-date set myself before I start, too.

Hope Santa's good to you!

Happy Modeling, happy holidays, and Merry Christmas!

Mike or Frank,do either of you plan haveing a build blog?i to that kit
and it would be handy to follow one of your builds,give it some thought.

Most likely will post in-progress shots with some info, more than a real blog.
If you want to follow this build, there is already a great blog on the Military Modelling homepage. I think this is the images that feature in the CD with the release. Adam builds a lot of the LZ stuff.

Thanks for the link, Frank.

That's about as detailed as you could want in a build-blog, and Adam seems to be hitting all of the steps.

So as to not stray too far off topic of colors, Adam does state in the first post that the C15TA was built in 1943 and 1944.

So, if production did in fact start before 1944, then those pre-1944 trucks would have almost certainly come off the assembly line in SCC No. 2 Brown vice SCC No. 15 OD.

Don't know where Adam got his info from nor how accurate it is, but it does show the need for more research, at least on my part!

Maybe someone here with access to Canadian sources could confirm the actual production dates.

From what little I can find, it appears that development & initial testing took place in late 1943 but production started in 1944, so we're back to the liklihood that initial vehicles may have been brown with the vast majority being SCC.15.

Paul

I seem to recall a magazine article about a restored vehicle being painted in it's original color of SCC2 brown. Presumably
the restoration team was able to determine this by sanding down through all the layers to the base coat. I suspect that either color would be appropriate.

that is a very cool build log,so much detial,

To help with your build just in case u want to detail the engine a bit. This is a CMP engine on a test stand during a restoration. Note location and routing of plug wires. Note water pump, pulley and exhaust locations as well. Note: fan is removed from the engine. You might even get some original color idea as I'm sure this engine never saw a rebuild after the war.